Dr. Robert Mitchell highlights importance of mentors in MLK Commemoration keynote

Dr. Robert Mitchell

The campus community gathered at the Ellipse Gallery on January 19 for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration. The commemoration’s keynote address was delivered by Dr. Robert Mitchell, director of medical services at Fresno State’s Student Health and Counseling Center. 

Born and raised in southwest Fresno, Mitchell is an alumnus of Morehouse College and Vanderbilt University. Before starting medical school, he served as a science teacher at West Fresno Middle School, where he worked with counselors to strengthen programming to support students of migrant farm worker families and Southeast Asian students and their families. 

Mitchell completed medical school at Howard University and trained further at Georgetown and John Hopkins University before returning to California to complete the UCSF – Fresno Residency Program. 

Mitchell with his mentees from Central East High School
Mitchell and his mentees

In addition to his work at Fresno State, Mitchell stays active in the community. He currently serves as the president of the United Negro College Fund’s Fresno Chapter, and has been a member of the group since 2006.

Mitchell used the commemoration keynote as an opportunity to directly address students. He spoke not only about Dr. King’s legacy and the importance of serving the community but also on the importance of having mentors to aid in personal growth. He referenced Dr. Benjamin Mays, among others, and said repeatedly, “Even Martin Luther King Jr. had mentors.”

Mitchell himself is the product of many mentors, including Dr. Bert Marius, Fresno’s first cardiovascular surgeon, and Columbus Craig, a local educator who was the first African American to play baseball at Fresno State. Mitchell also currently serves as a mentor for a group of students from Central East High School.  

Mitchell’s address was received well by students, staff and faculty alike. Dr. Kent Willis, vice president of the division of student affairs and enrollment management, said, “I’m grateful that we have leaders on our campus like Dr. Mitchell, who models civic engagement and servant leadership.”

Mitchell stands with Kapoor and Blathers in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Fresno State's Peace Garden
Mitchell with Kapoor (center) and Michael Blathers, assistant coordinator at Fresno State’s Cross Cultural and Gender Center

Willis also spoke at the commemoration, alongside President Jiménez-Sandoval, Versailles Cummings, the newly appointed director of the Cross Cultural and Gender Center, and Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, professor emeritus who led the construction of Fresno State’s Peace Garden—an outdoor space beside the library that houses bronze statues dedicated to historical figures who have contributed to societal progress, including King, César Chávez, Jane Addams and Mahatma Gandhi. 

The commemoration concluded in the Peace Garden, where all of the commemoration speakers and organizers draped a ceremonial garland around King’s statue.

by MARISA MATA

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